[itchyears]

Just got this DAC and have been using it in conjunction with Tidal through Audirvana and it sounds amazing!

It's just running off USB power at the moment, but if i get the iPower external power unit, has anyone noticed any significant aural differences?

I asked the very same question few months ago here:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/ifi...alue-dac-2020-21.917374/page-45#post-15836507

Short answer is try it and see, if not return it Amazon usually best for that. According to one reviewer on Amazon he said yes more difference and the Ytube reviewer also said better sound quality with ipower power adaptor.

 

[itchyears]

Strange question: If I get the iFi ipower 9Volt power adaptor, will it auto adjust to provide 5volts to the iFi dac or can ?

Or is better to stick with the 5V version

Only asking since can get the 9volt much cheaper and this hobby is becoming expensive as it is!

 

[Bazaar]

Strange question: If I get the iFi ipower 9Volt power adaptor, will it auto adjust to provide 5volts to the iFi dac or can ?

Not a strange question as I thought the same thing and initially did the same thing...fortunately I didn't fry the unit. Most power supplies I've seen in the phone world, for example, automatically drop the voltage, but apparently not the iFi units.

I was, however, experiencing issues with the unit switching on after I had paused my music player, and re-starting (9V). So I pretty quickly got the 5V power adapter...I still experience this issue (but less frequently).

 

[antdroid]

In my personally experience, I don't hear or notice and differences when using the device with external power is directly via usb. That said, you will need external power if you want to connect to your phone or some thing with lower power capability

 

[Mr BubbaHyde]

Folks, super cool stuff for us:

We’re excited to announce that our very own ZEN DAC has won ‘BEST DAC £100-£200’ in What Hi-Fi? Awards 2020

We want to thank you for your love and support of the ZEN DAC. We couldn't have done it without you!

Here's the bugger: https://ifi-audio.com/products/zen-dac/

And here's how posh it looks like with the award itself just next to it:

Well deserved, I got the Zen when it came out, I have several other "Highly Rated" dac's, and oddly always find myself listening to the Zen again, Great overall product for the money!

Congrats!

 

[yeboyi]

I've just received this. My very very early impressions:

1- Build and aesthetics superb.
2- Knob is very nice.
3- USB cable is thick but veeeery short. Feels like intended usage is laptops.
4- RCA cable is short as well. It's nice if you wanna stack the dac with another amp but not nice if you wanna connect your active speakers.
So both cables not that useful for my desktop usage. Thankfully i have another rca and usb cable.

For sound, only used single ended (unbalanced 6.35mm) for 5 minutes. First impression is that there is a weird echo in the treble which makes the soundstage bigger. That stood out to me at first. Dac is connected to the front panel usb 2.0 port so it works with 1 cable and power seems fine for Ananda even without power match.

I will update after using the dac extensively.

 

[makatech]

I've just received this. My very very early impressions:

1- Build and aesthetics superb.
2- Knob is very nice.
3- USB cable is thick but veeeery short. Feels like intended usage is laptops.
4- RCA cable is short as well. It's nice if you wanna stack the dac with another amp but not nice if you wanna connect your active speakers.
So both cables not that useful for my desktop usage. Thankfully i have another rca and usb cable.

For sound, only used single ended (unbalanced 6.35mm) for 5 minutes. First impression is that there is a weird echo in the treble which makes the soundstage bigger. That stood out to me at first. Dac is connected to the front panel usb 2.0 port so it works with 1 cable and power seems fine for Ananda even without power match.

I will update after using the dac extensively.

Never heard of the echo you are describing. It would be interesting if you try latest 5.3c firmware. Perhaps good trying on another computer as well (if you are able to reproduce the echo). Trying different USB ports could be interesting as well. You are running the unit USB powered or using a 5V power supply?

Ananda, nice.

 

[yeboyi]

Never heard of the echo you are describing. It would be interesting if you try latest 5.3c firmware. Perhaps good trying on another computer as well (if you are able to reproduce the echo). Trying different USB ports could be interesting as well. You are running the unit USB powered or using a 5V power supply?

Ananda, nice.

I don't mean the echo is obvious. Talking relatively to other dac amps. Differences are minor as always. I haven't tried tube before but people say similiar things about them. It's not like an audio artifact or a bad thing. In real life echoes helps our brains to interpret what is going on.

Just tried the usb power for now. I will try 5V power supply and balanced output as well. My very early impressions are positive.

 

[yeboyi]

hi there, i just tried using the 4.4mm balanced output on the zen dac and zen can (yes i have both) and have noticed some weirdness,
if i plug the 4.4mm fully, the sound only come from the left side, if i pull the jack slightly, the sound will come from both sides / normal left n right,
both my zen dac and zen can exhibit this "weirdness"
i also have tried the 4.4mm to my FiiO M11 and it sounds normal with the jack fully plugged.
here is the picture to give u guys what i mean by "slightly pull the jack"

Spoiler: this

do u guys have any idea?

Have similiar problem with DT 770's included 6.35mm adapter.

 

[yeboyi]

There is no 384khz option in windows audio panel. Is this normal ? Product page says 32/384 is supported.

 

[Zeka]

There is no 384khz option in windows audio panel.

Do not use a windiws audio system, but an audio player (foobar, aimp etc.).

 

[bOO9OO]

I can confirm Ifi Zen works with Linux Mint 20 and it's a big improvement over the Audio quest black 1.2 it replaced so it should work well with all recent Ubuntu based distro's.
I've connected the included usb 3 cable into a usb 2 port, whether that makes a difference or not ? The cable is too short to reach my usb 3 ports.

 

[yeboyi]

Do not use a windiws audio system, but an audio player (foobar, aimp etc.).

I can use my other dacs 32/384 in windows. Do you guys have the option or this is normal ?

 

[yeboyi]

I've tried ifi ipower with it. Haven't noticed any difference. Low gain is totally noise free with sensitive iems. High gain has noise. Ipower didn't changed that. Power seems same as well. No clipping. It can't get loud as SBX AE5 or THX 789. I believe ASR measurements are poorly done with a bad usb hub or something. My PC's usb slot can feed the Zen Dac very well. I can't praise the amp portion of this dac but it does the job and enough for most.

Noise:
THX 789 is completely noise free until 3 o'clock of highest gain.
Zen Dac high gain is noisy. Low gain is noise free.
SBX AE5 have less noise than Zen Dac but it's constant. Gain setting or volume does not change that. Noise is not noticeable when playing music.

All of them noise free with over ear headphones. Even with very sensitive Ananda.

Sound: (take this with grain of salt because of psychoacoustics)
Using only SE, didn't noticed anything negative or positive with the bass yet. Highs and vocals caught my attention quick. I feel like highs giving me different positional cues. Vocals are more emotionally engaging. I really like the vocals and highs. Truebass is a bit too much but it's nice feature since you can just press a button and get a subwoofer in the mix. It can cause a cloudy bass in some music though.

GTO Filter: Tried it a little. I feel like highs are boosted and brittle with this. Didn't like it much.

Edit: Build is better than THX 789. Buttons and knob better, especially the connectors way better.

 

[makatech]

Zen Dac high gain is noisy. Low gain is noise free.

Misunderstanding the post from yeboyi....